


On The Road Alone

by Witchitus



Series: United We Stand [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: ALL THE GAY, Age Difference, Borrowed OC, F/F, F/M, Gay, Gen, M/M, May get nsfw but I will mark the chapters if they are im just taggin it just in case, Misconduct OW FanFic, Multi, Sorry bois, Talon - Freeform, hints at past relationships, ive made the executive decision that there might be a bit of smut, shameless self-insert, slow burn but not in the way that you think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2018-10-21 03:11:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10676484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchitus/pseuds/Witchitus
Summary: Overwatch needed members. It needed them bad. After months of nothing, Winston hires a mechanic from Arizona, hoping that his cheery attitude would brighten up the place. Which it did...That and more.//Thanks to Fivetail for letting me use their Reader insert, Reader, for this fic. Diwa belongs to Doqmeat, and Percy is mine.//(On hold...maybe abandoned)





	1. The Application (Part One)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Misconduct](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8572498) by [Antiloquist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antiloquist/pseuds/Antiloquist), [FiveTail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiveTail/pseuds/FiveTail). 



Winston didn’t want to say it, but he was disappointed.

 

It had been _months_ since there had been a new addition to the Overwatch team. In fact, over a year had long since passed after the scientist had issued the Recall, and there had only been a small selection of new members. Winston had reached out to many of the old members of Overwatch -even the old _Blackwatch_ members- yet despite many favours he had called in, those who dared to return numbered far too little. However, it wasn’t hard to figure out _why_ there weren’t many that joined. After the drastic breakdown that occurred within the former world-wide organisation, no one wanted to be connected to the now illegitimate group. He couldn’t blame them, not really, since he himself had been hesitant on issuing the call. What he’d done was illegal, and he understood that those who didn’t want to join didn’t want to be apart of Overwatch any further.

 

Despite this, there was still a thirst for fresh blood among all current members. Ever since the last addition of recruits, there were only 25 members, but an entire world to defend. This was a hard task to complete without spreading out their forces too far apart. And on top of that, Overwatch had to balance in remaining discreet so as not to catch public attention. That put a lot of weight on the shoulders of 25 individuals, the latest being a woman from Canada who had just finished her _own_ training program. Since months had passed with no new recruits, the scientist had even looked into seeking out vigilantes that he had caught wind about, grasping onto anything he could in an effort to gather extra help to continue the organisation he'd fought so hard to bring back to life. Even then, there was still nothing. No one wanted to join the criminalized organisation, especially not after what happened to the original Overwatch all those years ago.

 

So,  what was Winston supposed to say? He was disappointed, plain and simple. He’d taken a big risk, and he was beginning to question whether it was worth it. _Was_ it really worth it?

 

It had been weeks since Winston had returned from his last scouting mission, and he'd almost given up hope completely. There were no replies- absolutely nothing. The days had dragged into weeks, and the only thing he could do to keep his mind busy was to search for more potential members and possible missions. Yet even that was getting tedious. There was only so much you could do in the world until you ran out of things that needed to be done.

 

The morning was hazy, as if the world were still asleep. Resting just outside of his window was a thick fog that hung in the air, unmoving as if it were frozen in time. The sun hadn’t even begun to rise as Winston padded out of his room, his glasses slipping off of his face from time to time as he padded through the halls. He usually liked to get his work done earlier in the morning while the others were still asleep, not pestering him with pointless interruptions so he could actually focus on what he needed to focus on. He enjoyed the company of his friends, but not when he had paperwork to do.

 

Peace and quiet had always been a comforting work environment, but today was just not a good day to think. He was still rather tired from a lack of sleep the night before, and while his mind longed for him to go back to sleep his body seemed to be functioning more so out of muscle memory than anything else. His daily routine usually consisted of a pot of coffee, paper work, dozing off, jolting himself awake, and back to more paperwork. It was an odd routine, but still a routine all the same. 

 

The scientist was just finishing his morning batch of coffee when the resident doctor, Angela Ziegler, bustled through the door, a stack of letters and envelopes in her hand.

 

“Sorry to disturb you, Winston," Angela said, flipping through the stack of paper she held in her hand, looking for the Gorilla's stack of mail.

 

"Not to worry. I wasn't getting much done." Winston explained, setting down his cup and spinning in his chair to face her.

 

"This was delivered today.” Angela stated, setting down a blue envelope lettered in red cursive amid his regular Science Daily. “Were you expecting something?”

 

Winston picked up the envelope and held it up to the lights hanging above his head. He couldn’t make out what lay inside, but from what he could see, it looked like a sheet of paper. “I wasn't expecting anything."

 

Angela followed the gorilla to look at the envelope over his shoulder, a perplexed expression written on her face as her interest peaked at the foreign letter. “Perhaps it was hand delivered? It doesn't seem there was a to address, so I don't know how it would have gotten here anyway else. There is no return address, either.”

 

Winston pulled open the top drawer of his desk and retrieved a silver letter opener, hesitating for a moment before he swiftly tore open the bottom crease of the envelope. As it was open, a cream-coloured file fell out onto the table, its contents spilling out into a messy pile on top of Winston’s desk. He hurried to gather the loose pieces of paper before shuffling them back together so he could flip through them, one word standing out to him as he did so: Application.

 

For a moment, his heart stopped. Had he read that right? He read the word over and over in his head, making sure what he was reading was, in fact, correct. It truly did say application. By the gods, it was an application!

 

An application.

 

He read through the rest of the text with a swift eye, his heart rate picking up as he dove further into the file. From what he could gather, the applicant was a mechanic from Arizona who had heard about the Overwatch Recall in an online forum and wanted so desperately to join. To Winston, this was good news. Actually, this was _great_ news. He sat the application down and took a deep, long breath, trying to calm his hyperactive nerves.

 

Angela on the other hand appeared to be having a hard time writing the English cursive and turned to Winston. “Winston? What is that? What does it say?”

 

“It’s an application, Angela!” He said cheerfully as he stood up, his low set chair falling to the ground behind him. Angela barely had enough time to move out of the way as Winston rushed past her on all fours, scampering around his office, while looking at the paper he held in his hands and hooting. “Finally!” He hollered, forgetting that people were still asleep but not actually caring. His hard work was finally beginning to pay off, and they finally had someone new they could add to the small ranks of Overwatch.

 

“That is good news, Winston! But did it have an address? We have to find them, don’t we?”

 

“Right! Right...” Winston quickly scanned the paper, eventually finding an address and a name. He couldn’t recognise the town at all, which made his job finding this person a bit harder but doable. Winston turned to his computer and cleared his throat, holding up the application so he could read it out loud. “Athena, can you find a town called ‘Crown Canyon’ for me?”

 

The computer interface came online with a flicker of life, but the voice of Athena was quiet for a second as she searched local databases. “Crown Canyon is a town located in Southern Arizona twenty one miles from the border of Mexico. Not much is known about this little settlement, but it has a population of 982 and only twenty known shops in the city.”

 

Winston nodded as he listened to Athena speak. “Alright…In Crown Canyon, can you find someone by the name of Percy Abbott Spencer?”

 

Athena went quiet once more. “There is only one recorded Percy Abbott Spencer known in Crown Canyon. Are you looking for a mechanic, by any chance?”

 

"Yes, I am." Winston’s heart lept into his throat as he stood once more, practically bouncing with excitement. “Can you put me through to them, by any chance?”

 

“I believe so.” Athena went silent, and a wave of black popped up onto the screen where Athena’s symbol had been moments prior. "Would you like me to set up an encrypted call, Winston?"

 

"What? Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Thank you Athena, I would have forgotten code the channel with out you."

 

After a few more seconds, the sound of a ringing old phone started playing from the built in speakers, and Winston shared a quick look with Angela, who was still hovering over him. Both looked a bit nervous, but their anxious excitement turned to be directed at the computer screen. 

 

After a few more seconds of ringing, just when Winston was prepared to hang up, a face appeared before him, squinting into the camera.

 

“Hello, this is Spencer Automotives, how can I help you today?” The man sitting before the screen listened to a voice off camera -one Winston couldn’t hear- and the man before him turned to look behind him. “Er....this evening, I guess.”

 

Winston cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. “Yes, hello. Can I speak to the person known as Percy Abbo-”

 

“-Abbott Spencer. Yeah, you’re speaking with him. What can I help you with?”

 

“I received your application in the mail today-”

 

Percy’s face lit up brightly. “Application…? Wait, you’re Doctor Winston! The scientist who worked with Overwatch? How did I not see it before!” The man smacked himself on the forehead, which was now smothered in grease. “It’s so nice to meet you, Mr Winston. I’m so glad to finally be speaking to you. And I’m glad you _finally_ got my app, and I was getting worried it had gotten lost. I put that in weeks ago!”

 

Winston fought back a smile, the other's cheerful attitude spreading like a wildfire. “Yes, I’m _the_ Doctor Winston. And yes, I just recieved your application. After reviewing it, I’m pleased to say that you’re accepted.”

 

Angela tapped Winston back, pulling him away from the screen. “Accepted? Isn’t that a bit hasty? We haven’t even completed a background check on this boy. What if he’s Talon? Or part of a gang?”

 

“That hasn’t stopped us before.” Winston countered, adjusting his glasses. “We need the new recruit. We’ll do a background check later.” He returned to the computer screen, a smile on his face. “Sorry about that. But yes, you’re accepted.”

 

“Wait...just like that? I don’t have to do anything special, no interview or anything?”

 

“No. You seem to have everything down right here.” He held up the paper so Percy could see what he was referencing.

 

“That’s great news. You don’t know how much it means to hear that, especially coming from someone like you.”

 

“Well, if you’re that excited, how soon can you start?”

 

“ _Ay,_ _dios mio_! I can start whenever.”

 

“Very good. I’ll have a hovership dispatched to your location. It should be there in about two hours. That’s not too early, is it?”

 

“Nah, it’s only midnight over here.” He raised another hand to head, his eyes widening. “Its midnight! Sorry to go, but I have things to pack. I’ll see you in two hours, apparently!”

 

Percy pushed away from the computer on his end, rolling away into the blue darkness that lay just outside of his computer light’s range. Faintly in the distance, Winston could hear Percy still speaking.

 

“Ey, Leo. Can you call up the others to let them know I need help packing? Yes I know it’s midnight, but I need their help! Yes, even Emilio. I _know_ they’re sleeping. Ugh…Leo just call them!”

 

Winston let out a small laugh as he ended the call. “Well,” He said, turning to Angela, a wide grin on his face. “He most certainly seems excited.”

 

Angela let out a cheerful laugh. “I think ‘full of energy’ is a better term. Maybe this new energy will be useful in boosting the team’s morale. A change of face should do them some good, no?”

 

Winston nodded in approval. “You’re right. I didn’t think about that. Well, I guess we need to wake the others and tell them of the development. Once there’s been a briefing, we need to get a ship over to our new friend, Percy.”

 

“I’ll go wake the others.” Angela said, her young face glowing as the sun began to rise over the Gibraltar watchpoint. Angela always had a softer touch when it came to waking people. It would be better if she woke them up, rather than Winston. “What time should we meet?”

 

Winston checked the clock on his computer screen. “A half hour from now. I’ll get the others. Tell them to meet in the kitchen. My guess is they’ll probably be hungry.”

 

~~

 

Once the other 23 members were woken and all huddled in the kitchen, Winston began the debrief about their latest recruit- the mechanic from Arizona. He tried to answer as many questions as he could, which ranged from when the newest member was arriving to what was being served for breakfast. After there were no more questions left to be answered, he turned and gathered the oldest members of Overwatch; Gabriel, Jack, Ana, Reinhardt, Torbjorn, and Angela.

 

The smaller group stood outside of the kitchen in the recreational room, talking in hushed voices while they discussed the new recruit.

 

“What do you think?” Winston said, sitting down. “I just want to hear what you think. We are the oldest members, and most of you founded the original Overwatch. I want to hear your input.”

 

“If we’re being honest,” Jack said, removing his visor so the others could clearly see his expressions. “I’m suspicious. An application just appears out of nowhere from a town none of us has heard of before…It is a little off-putting.”

 

Angela nodded in agreement. “While it is a bit suspicious, I do believe this kid has great potential. He seemed genuinely happy to be working with us.”

 

Reinhardt ran a few fingers through his beard. “There is no true way to guess this one’s motives until we actually watch them. However, I believe this could be a great opportunity. We need more members. That is not an unknown fact. Perhaps once more people join, others will join as well.”

 

Once they’d reached a consensus, they started drifting off into smaller conversation. They talked for the better part of half an hour, some discussing their latest missions, other talking about events as simple as the newest plot twist in their favourite tv show. They paused only when there was a gentle knock on the door frame, and Paige Turner (the newest recruit) peeked her head in.

 

“Sorry to bother you guys, but breakfast is ready.” She said softly, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

 

Winston noticed that for a short moment, her eyes drifted to 76 as he put his faceplate back on, and he raised his eyebrows a bit as he saw her cheeks go pink. There wasn’t anything _official_ going on between her and Jack -76 as she called him- but there was only so much denying they could do before they got caught kissing in the training room like _another_ couple before them. Some people (not _him_ of course) had even begun placing bets as to when they’d come out and say they were a thing.

 

“We’re on our way out,” Jack responded his faceplate now back in place.

 

The seven of them made their way back into the dining room, the others gathering around the table, passing out plates and laying out silverware. Winston couldn’t help but smile at how domestic this all seemed. People were laughing. Ana was telling the resident junkers -Jamison and Mako- that weapons were _absolutely_ not allowed at the table despite their many complaints about her sleep darts.

 

“That is not a weapon,” Ana responded in her motherly voice, and the two knew enough not to complain further lest they get darts straight into their arm.

 

Everyone else took their seats and began to eat, bright smiles on their faces as they talked about what it would be like to have another person on the Overwatch team. What would he be like? What could he do ability wise? Listening to all this around him -all this excitement and cheeriness- reminded Winston of all the things he’d missed when Overwatch had been disbanded. Here, no one cared that he wasn’t human or omnic. He was one of them.

 

He was family.

 

So _this_ was why he’d brought back Overwatch.

 

~~

 

Percy Abbott Spencer had never been more excited in his entire life. Not even when he’d won first place in the statewide science fair for his 100:1 scale moving replica that modelled a carbon atom. Not even when he was finally able to climb that 100-foot cliff that had been giving him trouble for the last ten years. Not even when he’d bought his own cat.

 

No, this was a new kind of excited. For the first time in his life, Percy would finally be apart of something bigger than himself. He’d finally be apart of Overwatch.

 

When Dr. Winston called the mechanics shop at midnight, Percy had been working on fixing the hovering mechanic for his own ship- one that he’d built by hand. He had studied the designs Dr Winston had published, but added his own flair to make his designs really unique. He had been so caught up in his own work that he had nearly missed the call. He would have, if Leo -his own automated version of Winston’s Athena- hadn’t started speaking.

 

“Abby, the phone is ringing.” Leo’s voice came out as a drawl, his tone lazy and bored. “Do you want me to pick it up, or are you purposefully ignoring someone?”

 

“Leo, I’ve told you before my name is Percy.” The male spun the wrench around a screw, waiting for a few clicks to know it was tightened before he continued on. “Where do you keep getting the name ‘Abby’ from, anyways?”

 

“Whatever. Anyways, do you want me to pick up this call or not?”

 

Percy looked up abruptly once he heard Leo say ‘call.’  “There’s a call waiting for me?” He asked, sliding towards Leo on his chair while he pushed up his welding goggles.

 

“I’m honestly at a loss for how you managed to invent me,” Leo muttered. If he had had a face, you could be sure there would be eye rolling. He was probably eye rolling anyways, face or no face. “But yes, there’s a call. Shall I answer i-”

 

“Yes, Leo! Answer it!”

 

~~

 

The moment the mechanic _finally_ ended the call with Winston, he sat back in shock. So they _had_ gotten his application after all! He had been so worried that they had ignored him or that they had found someone better, but to hear back from him was a dream come true! He was accepted and would be starting his job way sooner than he thought. Overwatch had been his latest obsession. Especially Winston.

 

He’d heard about Winston, the gorilla who had escaped by constructing his own makeshift rocket to escape from the Lunar Rebellion led by his fellow gorillas. He’d also heard about his other works he’d achieved with Overwatch, some of this info _slightly_ classified, which had gotten him into a bit of trouble before. Other than that, he deeply admired Dr Winston and his many inventions.

 

Now that he’d been accepted, the harder part had been trying to pack everything he needed, which was a lot. This was all such short notice… _They must really be pressed for time if they need me this quickly,_ Percy thought while he sorted through his tools. _I wonder...what could they need me_ for? The potential excited him, and he hurried to pack his blueprints so he could (hopefully) show Dr Winston later. Once they met. Face to face.

 

“Leo, did you get a hold of Emilio and the others?” Percy hadn’t even realised he was asking a question until he’d said it. That was _one_ way to snap him out of his thoughts.

 

“I got hold of Emilio and Alex. Alex told you to -how do I say this with fewer cuss words- to _piss off_.”

 

“And Emilio?”

 

“You should know him well enough by now.”

 

“Is he on his way or not, Leo?”

 

“Yes, he’ll be here in a little bit.”

~~

 

Even though it was barely one in the morning, Emilio still showed up. After being Percy’s right hand man for so many years of running the garage together, Emilio had stopped asking questions and had just started showing up when he was needed. Emilio was a special case in this part of Arizona. More specifically, Crown Canyon. Emilio was the only omnic within twenty miles of this town after a disastrous attack led to most of the omnics around here being killed and scrapped. Ever since then, Percy had fought hard to make sure Emilio stayed safe and functioning.

 

Once Emilio arrived, Percy felt kind of bad to have dragged his friend out of bed so early (or was it late?). If an omnic could look tired, they would have looked like Emilio. His stance was slouched, and his head began to bob every now and then as he walked into the shop. He was even still wearing his night clothes, but his shirt was on backwards and one pant leg was higher than the other. Percy fought back a laugh, imagining that if this omnic had hair, it would be just as disheveled as the rest of his appearance.

 

  
“Sorry for bringing you in so late, Emilio.”

 

“It’s no problem.” He murmured, looking up at Percy. “I wasn’t getting much sleep anyways. What do you need help with today?”

 

Percy clasped hands with his omnic friend, shifting weight from foot to foot as he bounced with excitement. “Remember that application I sent in a few weeks ago? Well, I got in! They just called me like an hour ago. They’re going to pick me up in a little bit.”

 

Emilio looked around, and Percy could tell he had questions.

 

“What’s wrong, _amigo_?”

 

“Well...what about the shop? Where is all your stuff going to go?”

 

“I was thinking about letting Alex take care of it while I’m gone. I’ll still come back from time to time. I’m definitely not closing this shop down! As for you…” Percy paused, pulling away from Emilio with a sheepish look on his face. “What if...you came with me. I-I don’t want you getting hurt while I’m gone. It just wouldn’t feel right. Plus, I can always use someone to double check my work just so I’m not blowing anyone up. I hope that’s alright. I just...I don’t want to leave you in a place where you could get hurt.” Silence. “E-Emilio….?”

 

“Well,” Emilio said after a moment of thought. “I guess we have a lot of work to do before we’re ready to go, eh?”

 

Percy let on a wide smile as he clapped his omnic friend on the back. “Glad to hear it!”

 

~~

 

As two thirty rolled around, Percy was beginning to worry that Winston wouldn’t find where he was. He _was_ in an obscure part of Arizona after all. He’d finished packing up a few minutes after two, and had mostly been relaxing and talking with Emilio about what the Overwatch base they’d be heading to would look like. Percy was getting so excited that his palms had started to sweat and his leg bounced restlessly around, which meant that he was both very very pleased, and very, _very_ nervous. This was something the man had dreamt about since the original Overwatch was created, but he had just been too lazy to actually take part in something greater.

 

That thought made his leg stop, and his racing heart slowed gradually. It was true that he’d been too lazy. He hadn’t thought to use his skills for good during the omnic crisis, and because of that, Emilio was in the position he was in now- targeted just because he was made of metal rather than flesh. He probably could have done better during the first crisis. He could have at least _helped_ , right?

 

He jumped as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Emilio.

 

“Hey, Percy. I think I heard a hover ship land outside. Do you want me to go grab the stuff while you get introduced? You can always introduce me later, plus I can carry more stuff than you can.”

 

Emilio was as introspective as usual. “Uh, yeah. That’d be great, actually. Thanks, Emilio.”

 

He didn’t respond, but Percy could feel that he was pleased. The omnic went out back to gather their things while Percy hopped up out of his chair and skipped towards the front of the shop. He paused only to smooth out his work clothes before he opened the door, a chuckle rising up in his throat.

 

“Hey! Are you the guys Winston....sent…” Percy’s eyes widened as he saw a massive pulse rifle aimed directly at his head, and his face went pale. “U-uh…”

 

Standing before him was a squadron of black-clad soldiers, all wearing masks which had a talon-like symbol printed the sides. After a quick glance up and down, Percy decided that it wasn’t talon _like_ , it _was_ a talon. These guys were Talon operatives. The mechanic made a quick decision that these guys were most _certainly_ not the people he was waiting for, and that he’d better leave now or else get shot in the face.

“Hey, guys. I think you got the wrong place. I don’t have anything good here. The bank’s down that way-” He moved to point further down the road, but the click of the gun before him made him gulp down the rest of his sentence and raise his hands above his head. “Not looking for the bank, then? G-Guys, I’m just a mechanic. I’m not that special, honestly.”

 

“This is the latest location of the last known transmission from the active Overwatch base. Sources say that Overwatch operatives should have been dispatched three hours ago, and should have arrived here within the last half hour.” Percy suddenly wanted to kick himself. The transmission hadn’t been encrypted. That conversation had lead these guys right here, right to him. In the dead of night, no one around for quite a ways in every direction. And he wasn’t armed. He had nothing. He was naked.

 

Buck. _Naked._

 

“Hey, there are no Overwatch members here. Honestly. So, why don’t you go back to doing evil stuff that you do and leave my poor shop alone.” The tip of the pulse rifle pressed against his forehead. “P-Please?” He added softly, but he knew it was pointless.

 

“Search the house.” The head Talon agent growled. “Find those agents. I’ll torture what I can out of this one here.” The agent pushed the gun further against Percy’s head, forcing his head back to touch the metal of his garage door.

 

Percy was sure that in a better situation, he could have thought up many premium choice words to spit back at the Talon member, but all he could manage was:

  
“Well...This is quite a pickle.”


	2. Search and Rescue (Part Two)

 By the time breakfast was done and the dishes had been cleaned, the sun had risen higher into the sky, melting away the hazy morning fog that had clung to the ground a mere hour before. Winston had been handing out assignments for the day, so everyone was milling around the common room while they waited to hear their name called. Twenty assignments came and went, yet after all that time of waiting patiently, Paige didn’t hear her own name called. It wasn’t until Winston began to walk away that she realised she hadn’t been assigned anything _at all_ , so she hopped up out of her seat as fast as she could and scampered after him.

 

“Sir!” She called, trying to catch up with him before he got too much further away. “Sir, you didn’t assign me anything for today. Am I in trouble? If this was about last mission, I can explain-”

 

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Winston replied as he turned to look at the younger agent, confusion on his face. That only lasted for a moment before sudden realisation blossomed on his face and he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Did they not tell you?”

 

“Did who not tell me what?”

 

“You’re going to pick up the new recruit with Angela, Reinhardt, and Lena. I thought they had mentioned that to you. Hmm...Well, better now than later, I guess. They went to go get suited up immediately after breakfast, so I had thought that they already told you. The three of them wanted to bring you along just in case something happened while they were picking up Mr Spencer, especially since you saved McCree and 76 a while back.”

 

Paige felt her heart flutter at the praise, and she smiled. “Oh, ok. That’s great news, sir! Is it just a retrieval mission?”

 

“Yes. Angela specifically asked for you, just in case something goes wrong on the mission and they’ll need you to pull them out of the heat.”

 

“Hopefully it won’t come to that.” Paige added, putting a smile on her face while she tried to ignore the prickly heat rising in her chest at the fact that she was asked for by Angela _personally_. “Where will will I be meeting the others?”

 

“In the loading dock. About, oh,” He paused and looked at the watch on his wrist. “In about a half hour. You better gather what you need- just your suit and any other gear you may need. The trip shouldn’t take long, so you won’t need any overnight gear. Now hurry, the others will be waiting for you.”

 

“Yes, sir.” Paige replied, before scurrying off to her room. While she navigated the hallways to her room she couldn’t help but think; they had wanted _her_? There were loads of people more experienced than her for retrieval missions, and yet they had still asked for her. The thought made her pleased in knowing that they thought she had done such an excellent job prior, even though she had only been on a few missions so far. However, she  couldn’t dwell too much on that previous excursion, the one she had spent with 76. Something...special had come out of that, and she didn’t want to distract herself by letting that moment consume her thoughts. Right now, she had a mission to focus on, and a few bags to pack.

 

Paige had to hurry to the loading bay, carrying her bag of equipment that Winston had suggested. She had hastily changed into her uniform, but she was pretty sure one of the straps of her chestplate was loose. She’d have to fix that later once they’d lifted off- she didn’t know how late she was, but she didn’t want to make it any later. They didn’t have time for her to adjust her outfit on base.

 

By the time she reached the dock where the dropship was docked, she was sure she had a big bruise on her side where her bag had been banging against her hip. Despite this, she kept on running, not stopping until she saw the other three coming from their own quarters. She was put at ease slightly  when she saw the others carrying their bags and dressed in their own uniforms, where only Reinhardt wasn’t dressed in his armor, but Paige could see it was in a second, extremely _large_ duffle bag he was carrying. She guessed it _was_ easier to just put his gear on later instead of trying to fit into the small entrance of the dropship in full scale metal armor. He had enough of a struggle just trying to push his large, seven-foot form through the door as is. Angela, on the other hand, had on all but her Valkyrie suit’s wings. For a few moments, Paige watched her maneuver the area with such swan-like grace and she couldn’t help but think that she possessed the pure, heavenly beauty of an angel- wings or not. Fareeha was such a lucky woman.

 

“I’m so glad you could make it in time.” Came a voice from behind the Canadian, making her jump.

 

“O-Oh!” Quickly, the woman spun around so fast that her bag almost hit Lena, who had appeared behind her, yet managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid being hit by the battering ram Paige had at her side. “Lena you startled me!” Paige replied, adjusting her glasses while her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and a small burst of adrenaline course through her body.

 

“Sorry about that, love, didn’t mean to frighten you. I was _just_ beginning to wonder if Winston had told you where we were going after we forgot to mention it this morning. Regardless, I would have made sure that we waited for you until he sorted it all out.” She added with a wink, a wide grin on her freckled, pixie-ish face. “I know what it’s like to be in your place. I know this isn’t your first mission, but I know you haven’t been out in the field that much. Sometimes it still gets me how hectic a simple mission can be.”

 

“I mean, if everything goes right as it should, we shouldn’t be seeing combat, right?”

 

“Right, but when does anything work as it should with us, eh?” Lena nudged Paige gently before walking towards the ship. “C’mon and put your stuff down, love. You don’t need to hold it. We probably won’t be taking off for a couple of minutes while Torbjorn does his last minute check ups.”

 

“Oh yeah…” Paige looked at the bag at her side. She had honestly forgotten she was holding it already, which was a hard feat to accomplish giving its weight and bulky width. “Yeah, you’re right.”

 

The two walked up the open ramp that led to the belly of the hovership, where Reinhardt and Angela were storing their own bags in the small holding bay. They both looked up as the last two agents joined them, but it seemed that they had just been in a conversation moments prior.

 

“Sorry for disturbing you. I just came in to put my bag down.” Paige apologised, hurrying past Reinhardt and Angela to place her own bag besides theirs. Once she finally managed to secure it in place, she looked sheepishly around at the others standing behind her, worrying that she might have taken too long.

 

“Don’t worry about it.” Angela chorused with a smile, coming over to place her hand on the younger recruit’s shoulder. “Reinhardt and I were only talking about a mission we had a long time ago. You remember that, don’t you Lena?” Angela turned to look at the English woman, a reminiscent smile on her face. “Just you, me, Reinhardt, and Torbjorn.”

 

Lena’s face light up with a melancholic happiness, and she relaxed against the side of the doorway, comfortable as she remembered the past. She looked like 76 did when he was thinking about his older missions, but Paige had to quickly shake her head to clear those thoughts ( _focus)_. “Ah, yes. I remember. It was my first mission, how could I forget?” She turned her attention to Paige, who probably looked extremely lost in confusion. “My first mission after Winston and Dr. Ziegler fixed me up and figured out how to harness the chronal accelerator to keep me anchored in this time and place. Right as I was training and recovering, London was under attack from Null Sector, so the four of us were in charge of putting an end to the chaos. That was seven years ago.”

 

Paige couldn’t help it, but her eyes grew wide. “You guys were the ones who stopped the Null Sector attack all those years ago? I remember hearing about it when I was younger, but I never heard any specific details aside from what I heard on tv. I thought I heard Overwatch had been barred from entering the city?”

 

“Yes...the situation was...complicated, but we had to find our way in and rescue the hostages so the task force of London could handle their own job.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Angela giggled, a gentle twinkle in her eyes. “It was Lena’s first mission on active duty. I was very impressed at how she handled the situation, even though we had almost been overrun several times by omnics. But now, we get to test _you_ out, huh?”

 

“Well, hopefully not.” Paige stammered, adjusting her glasses and then clasping her hands. “I mean, if this pick up goes well, I shouldn’t need to pull you guys back, right?”

 

Athena’s voice suddenly came over the intercom, and they all looked up at the invisible PA system as the automated voice spoke. “Please strap into your seats. We’ll be leaving in a minute now that she ship has been refueled and the tests have all been administered. We are a little bit behind schedule, so we will be traveling a _little_ faster than standard flight regulation while we are under the radar.”

 

Paige turned to look out as the ramp closed and the doors to the hovership slid together. A look of half-hidden disappointment grew on her face, one that she hadn’t intended to be there. She had expected to see 76 see her off, but he was probably busy working on his own morning mission.

 

“Were you waiting for someone?” Angela inquired as she moved to her own seat, a smug smile tugging at the corner of her face as she strapped herself in. “A former commander perhaps?”

 

Paige took her seat quickly, not wanting to respond while her cheeks burned cherry red. It was that obvious, huh?

 

She was thankful that Athena came over the intercom once more. “We’re beginning the takeoff sequence. Please be seated. You may walk around the ship once we’ve stabilized a bit more. Until then, I would suggest holding onto something, as there have been reports of slight turbulence as we ascend to higher altitudes.”

 

The engines roared to life and the ship began to rumble a little, making Paige grab a hold of her seat to steady herself. She felt the pressure slowly build up as the hovership rolled its way out of the docking bay and down the launch pad, gathering momentum before it began climb into the morning sky. Natural sunlight shone through from the empty cockpit to where the four members were sitting, filling it with an orange glow. They rocketed away to their destination- Crown Canyon, Arizona.

 

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, their heads pressed against the headrests, the tension relaxed and a familiar voice came over the intercom.

 

“Howdy, partners. Heard y’all were headed to Arizona without me. I won’t mention how hurt I feel, but I would like to say for the record that you guys officially won’t be allowed back in unless you bring me somethin’ from Tombstone, ya hear?”

 

Paige bit back a laugh as she raised her hands to her lips to hold back a few giggles. “We hear you, McCree.” She managed through her fingers.

 

In the background, she could hear someone growl, “Get out of the way, Jesse.” Another voice echoed over the speakers shortly after. “Sorry about that. Anyways, sorry I couldn’t come to see you off. I had to set up an encrypted server-”

 

“With my help!” Shouted yet another voice. This time the interruption came from Sombra, the resident hacker that had recruited herself a few months before Paige had arrived.

 

“Yes, with Sombra’s help.” 76 sighed with a slightly exasperated edge to his tone. “Taking a call on base is different than when you’re moving around. I’d feel a whole lot better knowing that you aren’t being tracked. That being said, good luck on your retrieval mission. Be careful out there, though. We’ve heard there have been a rise in gang violence near that area. We’ve expected it might be Los Muertos, but we haven’t found any clues as to why they would be so far above the border. Just stay safe out there, understand? That’s an order.”

 

“Understood, sir.” The four of them echoed.

  


Paige had spent the half hour of her being strapped to her seat reading up on the information Winston had gathered about their newest recruit. According to this file, Percy Abbott Spencer had been born to a different name, one that had long since been redacted by the American Military for a reason Winston had not been able to find. He had moved to Canyon Creek a few months before the Null Sector attack in London had been initiated, but somehow, Winston had found newspaper clippings about a smaller attack within a 10 mile radius by a group that called themselves ASPTR, but that also had nothing found. During that fight, Percy had lost his family, but took up his family’s automotive business at the age of 10, running it full time and learning how to become a mechanical engineer to keep his business afloat. There was very little else in the file aside from a set of blueprints of an attack suit and modified weapons he’d designed- something he called Project Zeus. She spent some time admiring the intricate designs Percy had poured into his project.

 

Once the ship steadied out and was out of the turbulent patches of wind that rocked the ship back and forth, the Overwatch members were finally free to walk around after a half hour of sitting, strapped to their seats. Once Athena announced the ‘all clear,’ all four of the members on board pushed up the bars keeping them in place and rose to their feet.

 

“Athena, what’s our ETA?” Angela called, rolling her shoulders and twisting out the kinks in her back.

 

“If we continue at this rate of acceleration, we should reach Spencer Automotives within the next ten minutes.”

 

“Thank you, Athena.”

 

Paige was stretching out her back when Lena approached her.

 

“Your chest plate is lopsided, love.” She said gently, hovering next to Paige while she turned her comment into an inquiry. “Would you like me to fix it?”

 

Paige straightened as fast as she could, biting the inside of her cheek. Right, she’d forgotten to fix her armor. She only nodded mutely and turned so Lena could adjust it. After a few moments of the British female fidgeting with the strap on her left shoulder, Lena finally stepped back and put her hands on her hip while Paige turned back around.

 

“All better!” Lena announced with a cheerful grin on her face.

 

“Thanks.” Paige managed, before she was distracted by a hushed and hurried conversation between Angela and Reinhardt, who were both hunched over a small tablet. From the look on Angela’s face -one that Paige had come to know as the Worry Face- Paige could tell that something was wrong. Lena saw the face as well, and her own cheery expression fell to become replaced with one of equal concern.

 

“Angela? Reinhardt? What’s going on?”

 

Together, Paige and Lena crossed the distance between the two older agents, and Angela turned to the two with a sigh.

 

“I suppose now is a good time to tell the rest.” The Swiss doctor mused to Reinhardt, who nodded in agreement. Angela took a deep breath and held up her communicator to show a screen that looked like the visual manifestation of the sound of static. “As soon as we entered the 20 mile marker to our destination, our communications relay went down. We’ve lost connection with headquarters, and all access to our personal lines. It seems someone’s jamming our signal.”

 

Paige felt her heart sink into her shoes then rise back up into her throat as she contemplated what that could mean. “So...what you’re saying is we’re on our own? Do you think it’s… a trap?”

 

Once again, Angela and Reinhardt exchanged looks. “We think it may be so. But because our course was plotted externally-”

 

“We can’t change course.” Lena finished, her eyes widening with realisation.

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Which means we’re flying straight into a trap.”

 

Reinhardt leaned against the side of the ship, running his fingers through his beard with a thoughtful look on his face. “Well, at least we _know_ that we’re walking into a trap. We can take the time we have to prepare to get ready.” ‘

 

“Well, I guess we might be needing that extraction gear after all… What about when we land? How will we be able to return to Gibraltar?”

 

“We can reboot the system to override the controls, but we’ll have to take over manual control and fly our way out of the jammed zone. However, we want to be on the ground for that, as rebooting will take a minute, and I would prefer to not crash into the ground.

 

“Agreed.”

 

“Therefore, Reinhardt, Lena, and I will suit up and head into and see if we need to recover Percy, while you set up your gear and reboot the system manually. Now that we know this is a trap, we can be a bit more prepared for what we’re dealing with. Hopefully we won’t be intercepted at our landing spot, but we can never now. Now that we have a plan, everyone, finish gearing up.”

  


Being interrogated had never been Percy’s strong suit. But that was saying that Percy had ever been interrogated, tied to a chair and beaten for information. Which he hadn’t. He’d dealt with pain before, but never at the hands of someone who wanted questions. It was a weird feeling, being tied to his own metal chair by some stranger, a stranger who had by now most likely broken his nose and probably cracked a few ribs, plus quite a few cuts here and there that had been given to him with a knife before his questioner decided he liked the concept of brass knuckles a bit more. Despite the taste of blood on his lips and the pain in his chest, all Percy could think about was-

_Wow, this chair is really uncomfortable. If I get out of this, I’m going to make sure to put some cushioning on it._

 

He didn’t have long to dwell on this thought because soon his head was jerked back, as he felt a knife digging into the skin of his neck while the investigator’s hand gripped as tightly as it could into his short, curly hair. Percy’s mind was groggy with pain and his thoughts moved sluggishly, his more coherent ideas focused more on the fact that his body was in more pain than he’d ever felt in his life rather than the man who had caused that pain.

 

“I’ll ask you again.” The guy growled, his words barely muffled behind his cloth mask. “Where. Are. The. Overwatch. Agents.”

 

“How can you breathe in that mask?” Percy replied, blinking slowly. “I mean, it must be hot and hard to breathe through that thing. I tried it once and I just couldn’t do it.” His words were slightly slurred and his head felt heavy. He didn’t think he was bleeding that much, but it could still be blood loss. Maybe the dude had accidentally hit a vein or something? Who knows. Certainly not Percy.

 

“Stop avoiding the question and tell me where they are!” The man flicked the knife across the side of Percy’s throat, cutting a small section of his neck while a small dribble of blood soaked the mechanic’s shirt.

 

“I don’t know man...Maybe they’re takin’ a vacation in Hawai’i. Hawai’i’s pretty nice this time of year. Or so I hear. I’ve never been. Have you been?”

 

Percy’s head was suddenly jerked forwards so his chin rested against his chest once more. “We’ve got a smart ass here.”

 

“Not a smart ass. Just tired.” Percy blubbered, drooling a bit of blood onto his shirt.

 

The man turned back to Percy, his eyes glowing furiously beneath his mask. “Well, if you’re so tired, maybe you need a bit of a wakeup, then!” With that, he gripped the knife in his hands tightly and sunk the blade into the area just below Percy’s collarbone then leaving it there so the handle protruded awkwardly.

 

Percy’s eyes went wide as his head jerked upright, and he clenched his teeth for fear that he would let loose a scream, but that feeling soon passed and he was left gasping for air. For a moment, Percy could only focus on the pain as red clouded his vision but too went away until all he felt was heat burning his shoulder and blood soaking his shirt more so than it had before.

 

“Look,” Percy panted, closing his fists and then clasping them together. He needed to escape from these handcuffs and find Emilio. He hoped to the gods that he hadn’t been found by the Talon or whatever operatives and had gotten away with what Percy had packed. He did _not_ want Talon to have access to his Zeus Suit or the rest of the blueprints for his Project Zeus. But with Emilio gone, he would need to help himself escape. “I honestly don’t know where the Overwatch agents are, or where they’re located, okay? They probably saw you coming from a mile and booked it back to headquarters. Now, please. Just leave me alone. I don’t know anything, I swear-”

 

While Percy had been talking, the Interrogator had slipped back on his brass knuckles and shut Percy up by slamming them into his stomach, cutting of his statement while he was winded yet again. “Fine. If I can’t get intel about the whereabouts of the Overwatch Agents, I can still get other answers out of you. Let’s start with something I _know_ you can answer: Where are the blueprints for your Project Zeus?”

 

“Go to Hell.” Percy spat, his anger fueled now by the overwhelming pain coursing through every inch of his nervous system.

 

“Wrong answer.” Another blow to Percy’s abdomen. “Where are the blueprints for Project Zeus?”

 

“When I get out of here,” Percy warned, pausing to clench his teeth as he quietly dislocated both of his thumbs on his hand, enabling him to slip out of the handcuffs keeping him tied to the chair. He bit his lip in pain but continued talking to mask the sound of his hands cracking. “I’m going to kill you first.”

 

“When you get out of here?” The man laughed, then gestured to all of Percy. “You’re tied to a chair with a knife in your shoulder. You won’t be able to move that arm, even if you were to get free. Not with the knife still there.”

 

“I guess I’ll just have to take it out, then.” With that, Percy lunged forwards, simultaneously pulling out the knife sunk into his skin and tackling his attacker to the ground. He ignored the rush of crimson that splattered onto the dirt floor and focused more on his now boiling hatred for the man before him. He jabbed the knife in a weak spot beneath the man’s body armor that would have stopped the knife, and instead jabbed it into his victim’s weak spot just under his armpit, the blade sinking into his ribcage.

 

He then got to his feet weakly and pushed his way outside of the tent he had been kept in, hand clamped as tightly as he could around the wound in his shoulder that bad begun to bleed profusely once the knife had been removed. Percy stumbled to the ground, keeping a watch out for other Talon agents while sneaking around in the darkness, most likely leaving a trail of blood behind him but his mind too fuzzy to care. He needed to find Emilio and they needed to get out of here as quickly as possible.

 

Percy walked along the path away from his workshop, thankful that there was no moon out tonight, or else he would have been spotted minutes ago. Treading as lightly as possible, Percy ducked behind what cover he could, not knowing where he was heading aside from as far away from these enemy operatives as quickly as possible. He wished he had grabbed something he could have used to defend himself, but it was too late to head back now. The man he’d stabbed had probably already called for backup, and he was probably already being looked for. Percy must be one lucky man to have one of the highest terrorist operations looking for him and his weapons. He felt so honored.

 

After a few minutes walking distance between him and their camp set up, His vision grew fuzzy and he collapsed on his knees, before landing face first in the dirt. He could tell that that small knife had somehow managed to hit some artery or vein because he was certain he was now losing a lot of blood. He felt so dizzy and sick to his stomach, he couldn’t find the strength to sit up again. So he just sat there, bleeding out into the earth for a few minutes until he heard the trees rustle beside him and someone hurried next to him.

 

“This is the one, yes?” The accent sound german and lightly accented, and it was clear a woman was speaking. “He’s bleeding profusely. We need to take him back to the ship. Reinhardt, pick him up gently while I try to stabilize him with the Caduceus staff. We need to hurry- the beam will be able to heal his minor injuries, but those deeper wound need to be sutured and monitored.”

 

Percy was suddenly picked up by what felt like a large tin man, but he could barely focus on what was going on or who these people were. At this point, he didn’t care if they were Talon or not, just so long as he wasn’t staining the ground with his blood He felt a sudden, burning warmth spread through him, like his bones were being broken and mended again by this vibrant yellow light suddenly tethered to his body. He hurt more than he had before, but he didn’t have to strength to scream. He could only muster a few words once the searing pain had subsided and his body adjusted, like that strange beam of light was speeding up the healing process occurring in his body.  

 

“Emilio...where?” Percy managed, certain in his drowsy state that he was drooling on himself.

 

“The omnic? He’s back on board with your things. We found him ten minutes ago and brought your things on board. Now, I need you to stay awake, okay? Start counting to twenty and then back down. Can you do that for me?”

 

“Yeah….One….Two....Three….Four….F-five….uh,” Percy struggled to keep his eyelids open, but he fought to remain awake like he was told.

 

“Just a minute longer.” the Woman assured. Percy thought she looked like an angel. Maybe she was. She had a halo after all. “We’re almost back to the ship.”

 

The first time Percy blacked out, it felt like just a few seconds, but he had been laid down on some kind of floating stretcher, while the angelic blonde woman from before hovered over him.

 

“Percy, stay awake. This will be painful, but I need you to stay awake.” She pressed soft, delicate fingers to Percy’s chest, while looking back at someone behind her. “Reader, are we ready to take off? We need to hurry, Talon is enclosing the ship.”

 

“We’re ready!” Someone announced, and the ship began to rock as it ascended into the sky. “Hold on, I’m getting a reading on some turbulence.”

 

“Tracer, hand me that medkit over in the corner. Hurry, we don’t have much time and I need to sew this wound close. Hand me the isopropyl alcohol and some of the sterilized cotton- yes, that there. And those tongs. No, not those ones, the other- yes that one. Thank you.” A blurry face appeared just above Percy’s, and her delicate features only confirmed that he was seeing an angel. She was _beautiful._ “Mr. Spencer, this is going to hurt a lot. You might want to grip onto something.”

 

She must have poured something into the wound, because within a few seconds, he blacked out yet again. When he woke up for the second time, he was in the process of being bandaged up, and he sat up slowly.

 

“How long…?”

 

“Only a few minutes.” The blonde woman replied. “I’m Doctor Ziegler. We found you just in time- a minute later, and there would have been some very serious health complications. I’m patching you up as we speak, but I’ll need a more thorough examination once we get back to base.”

 

“Ah...ok.” Percy rested his head back and let his eyes close, only to have them open again. “Hey, can we stop for some Tim Hortons on the way back? I could really go for some coffee right now, and like a dozen donuts. I haven’t had TH in a long time…”

 

Angela Ziegler let out a light, cheery laugh. “Yes, we can stop for some of your Tim Hortons on our way back to base. Now get some rest, I’ll wake you when we get there.”

Percy didn’t need to be told twice. His head collapsed back onto the stretcher, and he felt into a light, dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HMMMMMM THIS TOOK WAY LONGER THAN A DAY LATER TO POST AND IM SORRY
> 
> It only took me two months to get writing again :/ But this is the second chapter and hopefully I'll be more reliable with releasing the next chapters. Again, thank you to doqmeat for proofing my story, and thanks to Fivetail for letting me use their character Reader!


	3. Percy Spencer Reporting For Duty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hwow chapter three is finally up. I've had such a major writer's block (and I kinda still do) but I had to force myself to keep writing. Hopefully, I can push out more content but y'never know.

Despite Angela Ziegler’s protests, Percy checked himself out of the medbay later that day. He’d spent most of the time lying uselessly in bed while the doctor flittered about, checking and rechecking every single inch of Percy’s scarred body, marking off boxes, and prescribing a little bit of this and a little bit of that to help with the pain or the healing process. Now that they were back at base, all his wounds had been properly sewn up and bandaged, and all his beaten limbs wrapped in a compressive cloth to keep the swelling down and contained. After Doctor Ziegler had run all the tests she needed to, Percy reached over to the side table and grabbed his pants then swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand up, completely ignoring Angela’s objections while he studied his body in the mirror next to his medical cot. 

 

“This one’s going to leave quite a scar, huh?” He asked the doctor while he pointed to the sewn knife wound on his shoulder. 

 

“Sit  _ down. _ ” Angela cried, hurrying over to Percy’s side to try and force him back down into the bed. “You still need a few days to recover!”

 

“I’ll be fine,” Percy replied, shrugging off the doctor’s warm hands to look at himself in the mirror a bit longer. “I’ve been stabbed before, and I know how to take a beating. I swear, I’ll be fine.”

 

Angela stared at the new recruit with incredulousness written clearly in her eyes, before the darkened and she simply  _ harrumphed _ . “Fine, but I swear, if that suture opens up, I will  _ personally _ strap you to that bed until it's fully healed, do you understand?” She pointed her clipboard at Percy, a look of murder in her eyes.

 

“Yes ma’am.” Percy said with a small, polite salute and a slightly frightened look on his features from the woman’s sudden and ferocious intensity. He mentally scanned through the files he had remembered reading through, “pulling up” the one on Angela Ziegler. From what he could recall, Angela had fought hard to further the advances of medical research, and had spent her time since Overwatch had shut down to work in aid stations in war torn regions of the world. He hesitated for a moment, knowing he shouldn’t leave off the conversation with her angry but not exactly sure about how to go about it. After all, he  _ did _ want the woman who was in charge of his medical well being to  _ like  _ him. “I’m...sorry to have caused such a hassle. Thanks to my stupidness, I led you into a trap, and I could have gotten you killed. Hell, I almost got  _ myself _ killed. But thanks to you, I’m here and alive and...mostly well. Honestly? A few cuts and bruises is a win in my book. So, I guess, thank you.” He held his hand out towards his doctor, an apologetic smile on his face.

  
  


Angela raised an eyebrow and studied his hand for a moment, before she grasped his hand firmly in hers and looked up into Percy’s face. Doctor Ziegler studied Percy with her sharp blue eyes for a small second before she sighed and placed her clip board at her side. “Being affiliated with Overwatch is a dangerous choice. I honestly wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to wipe your records clean and return back to your home after the trouble you went through just by making a call to us. I considered not joining when Winston sent out the recall that while back. I didn’t think it would be worth it to rebuild what had been taken down for a reason. Especially, not after the place Overwatch had been heading towards the end. But I decided to join, simply for the reason that I had gotten as far as I could helping the world by myself. I needed a team behind me. So I joined.”She paused for a small moment as she collected her thoughts. “You’re one of us now. And here in Overwatch, we don’t leave our team behind.” Her grip suddenly tightened and she pulled his arm down to her hip, making Percy yelp out in pain. “Don’t think this lets you off the hook, though. I expect you to come in everyday for a check up since you’re so  _ stubborn _ and refuse to stay in the med bay. Is that  _ clear?” _

 

Percy gulped and nodded his head as rapidly as he could, slowly withdrawing his injured arm from Angela’s surprisingly strong grasp. He watched as she walked away with a stern, motherly look on her face as she slid out the door, leaving it open for Percy to leave through when he was ready. He was suddenly  _ very  _ glad he apologised when he did. He for sure didn’t want to see her bad side. He returned his gaze to the mirror and watched himself, running a hand gingerly over his wounds and guessing which ones would leave new scars, After admiring his black eye, bruised body, and beaten frame, he stiffly pulled on his bloodied shirt (his clean clothes were still packed up and with Emilio), and struggled to lift his injured arm through the hole of the shirt, which resulted in him stuck with the shirt half over his head while his good arm struggled through the armhole. A sudden knock at the door made him spin around as quickly as possible, his shirt still only half on.

 

“Is this… a bad time?”

 

At the door stood an older man dressed in a distinctly blue, red, and white jacket and posed as if he was strapped to a plank of wood; straightened back, shoulders squared, and a stiff posture. He would have looked like any ole’ regular military jock if it hadn’t been for the thick face mask covering three quarters of his face that glowed and hummed quietly. Percy stared at the man for a minute, confused about why this man was standing in his room and about why he looked like he was frozen still. And then the understanding hit Percy like a truck. 

 

“You’re him.” Percy whispered, his eyes wide while he completely ignored the fact that half of his shirt was hanging around his neck and the other half clung to his armpit. “You’re they called...uh…Soldier 76. At least, that’s the name they used on the forums,I don’t know if that’s actually your name but  _ wow _ . I always assumed that you were some dude -or multiple dudes- walking around in a costume but...gosh, you’re real! And you work for Overwatch, which I should have guessed, because it only makes sense. Ever since Overwatch came back online, I noticed your appearance count kind of went down and now that makes a whole lot more sense than those ridiculous theories that have been circulating and I guess I’m moreso rambling now so I think I’ll stop talking but honestly it’s an honor to meet you and I’ve been keeping up with all your sightings and I have to say I admire the whole secrecy thing and...Right, shutting up.”  

 

“Yes, I’m... _ Him. _ And you’re the new recruit we picked up, correct? I got the report earlier from Doctor Ziegler and about the Talon operation that occurred at your house. I ask that if you have any information regarding what you witnessed last night, I can speak with you later and we’ll discuss the event. For now, I’ll have our recruit, Paige Turner, give you the standard tour and show you to your quarters for training. I’ll allow you a three days of rest and recuperation, but after that, you’ll begin your training. On the fourth day, I’ll have you collected from your quarters, and you will report to Winston for you initial physical examination. More will be explained to you then. Make sure you rest up, and I’ll see you at dinner tonight.” 76 turned to leave, his hand on the door as he turned, but he paused and looked back to Percy. “You might want to slide your injured arm in first. It’ll make putting a shirt on much easier.”

 

Percy looked down and realised he was still wearing his shirt around his neck and felt his cheeks turn red with embarrassment. “Uh, thanks. I mean...Thank you, sir.”  _ Was that even the proper way to address him?  _

 

Once Soldier 76 was out of sight, he pulled his shirt off and then back on the way the older agent had instructed, finding that it was -in fact- a lot easier to put on if he slipped his arm slowly through the arm hole and then over the rest of his body. By the time he finished getting dressed, a pretty young woman with dark hair knocked on the wall and peeked her head in. She watched Percy for a moment with curious eyes before stepping all the way in. 

 

“Hi, you probably don’t remember me after...blacking out and all, but I was on the ship this morning when we rescued you. I’m Paige Turner. I was the most recent recruit before you arrived.”

 

“Yeah, blood loss will do that to ya. Blacking out, I mean. Sorry, yeah, I’m Percy. But you probably already knew that.” He moved towards her and extended out his hand (sadly he used his right arm, which was injured) and grimaced at the pain that spiked throughout his whole body. He promptly switched hands to shake, cradling his injured arm beneath his good arm. 

 

“You must have recovered fast if Dr. Ziegler discharged you so quickly.” Paige looked Percy up and down a few times, obviously looking at all the wrappings and bruises that  _ kind of  _ made Percy look like a half-wrapped mummy. 

 

“I wasn’t...exactly discharged, but I’ve had worse. This is like a walk in the park to me, so I can handle it. Plus I’d rather get moved in and stuff, not just mope around in the medbay for a few days.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Right, I’m in charge of your orientation tour, so let’s get started.” Paige motioned for Percy to follow, and the two walked down the hall towards the center of the base. 

 

“When did you join up with Overwatch?” Percy asked, using his good arm to rest on his stomach which both rumbled and cried. He visibly winced, but was thankful Paige didn’t mention it. 

 

“Oh, a few months ago. I was one of the few -well, only- people to make it through the training phase. I expect you’ll get a few more days to recover than I did, but I don’t doubt it will be as grueling as my training was. I hope you can get used to getting little sleep every day.”

 

Percy laughed nervously, eyeing Paige with a weak smile. “I basically run off of seven hours of sleep a  _ week _ , so I’ll be fine.”

 

Paige laughed and then stopped dead in her tracks. “That was...a joke right?” 

 

Percy laughed nervously as he shook his head. “Nope, dead serious. I can’t sleep at night. Especially not when I’m working on something. Then I can’t sleep at all because my mind just runs too much.”

 

“Ah.”

 

The two walked together in awkward silence until Percy gathered enough nerve to start the conversation back up again. 

 

“So…” he said slowly, looking around. “Is there a workshop in this place?”

 

“Yes, of course. One of the things I was tasked with making during my training segment was I had to build my own gun. I’m still working on improving it, but for the most part, it’s complete. Do you have something in mind that you plan on making?”

 

Percy’s face lit up with excitement. “Oooooohhhhh yeah. I have this thing called Project Zeus that I’ve been working on for a few years now. It’s a series of weapons that can harness the electrical capabilities of a lightning bolt- I’m talking  _ full  _ capabilities. It took a lot of work to get it right, but I think I finally figured out how to make a suit with the right fabric so I wouldn’t electrocute myself using it. It only took me a few tries, and I only got electrocuted once!”

 

“You’ve been electrocuted?!” Paige exclaimed, her eyes wide and her face full of shock. “By a  _ lightning bolt _ ?”

 

“Oh, don’t worry. It wasn’t a full scale lightning bolt. It was about one one-hundred-thousandth power, so I only got hit with 100,000 joules of electricity. People have been killed with muuuuch worse. I was still out for the better part of a month, though. That sucker hurt like a sonnuva forever after, though. But luckily, I didn’t have to go to the hospital, because that would have been a tough one to explain”

 

Paige blinked a few times in shock and then shook her head. “You weren’t kidding when you said you’ve been through much worse.”

 

“Oh no, not even by a long shot. See, my family and I…” Percy paused and a sour look crossed his face, but he continued nonetheless. “My family and I have a sore knack for pain and injury. Except for my mom, though. She was the sweetest woman you would have ever met- my father made sure nothing worse than a papercut ever happened to her until…” Percy stopped short again and then quickly changed the subject. “Sooo, where will I be staying? Is there like a trainee area or will I get my own room?”

 

“You’ll be getting your own room. Your friend, Emilio, already moved everything in for you, so you don’t have to worry about that. I’ll show it to you.”

  
  


The tour went a lot quicker after Percy was shown his room. He just peeked his head inside to get a feel for the place before they moved onto more important things, like where the kitchen was located. The two chatted and walked through the base, Paige showing off specific and key places Percy needed to know, while also introducing him to some of the other Overwatch agents they happened across. 

 

“Amélie!” Paige called to a beautiful woman with the longest hair Percy had ever seen. I mean, there were other key features to the woman, but her hair looked so silky and soft, and obviously well taken care of. Maybe she’d be willing to share her secret someday. When they approached her, Amelie was sitting in a chair, reading a book in french that Percy could slightly understand. The woman looked up from behind her slim reading glasses and raised a delicate eyebrow at the two of them. 

 

“Yes?” Amélie asked. It was polite yet brisk, almost to the point where it was sharp. Her voice was melodic and smooth. Like a swan. Or a fountain of chocolate. Both? 

 

“Sorry to interrupt your reading, but this is our newest recruit, Percy.”

 

“ _ Je suis le plus récent membre de Overwatch. Je suis enchanté de faire votre connaissance. _ ”

 

Amélie wrinkled her nose before she let out a laugh. “Your accent is horrible.” She commented. “I guess we’ll have to work on that.”

 

Percy felt his heart flutter for a moment. “S-Sorry.” He stammered. His heart was hammering in his chest at this point, and he was 99.9% certain he was redder than a cheery. “I grew up near the border. I’m afraid I’m more proficient in Spanish than French.”

 

“Like I said,” Amélie responded, a smug smirk on her face. “I guess we’ll have to work on that.”

 

“Y-Yes ma’am.”

 

Percy kept staring at Amélie with this wild, doe-like look in his eyes until Paige tapped him on the shoulder and motioned away. 

 

“We should...get going.”

 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. The tour! Right yes, the tour.” Percy hurried away, pulling Paige along by the wrist, too embarrassed to say anything more. 

  
  


They continued on, with Paige showing Percy where the weight room was, as well as the elevator that led up to the practice range. 

 

“There are special targets up there that will reform after being destroyed, so you never have to worry about having to build them back up again. Plus, it’s nice and quiet up there, so I like to think it’s a good place to relax and collect yourself.”

 

“Oh, that’s nice. It’s always nice to have a place to just catch your breath- metaphorically speaking.”

 

Paige looked like she was about to say more, but the watch on her wrist beeped and she smiled. “Just in time. Well, I have target practice with Jesse right now, so I’m afraid I’ll have to cut the tour short.”

 

“Thanks for showing me around.” Percy nodded as he backed away slowly, leaving Paige to enter the elevator up to the practice range. 

 

Once she’d disappeared, Percy didn’t know what to do. Now that his guide was gone, he felt somewhat awkward walking around by himself in a foreign place, surrounded by people who didn’t know him. He stood around for a few minutes, not sure where to go, before he settled on walking left and finding something to do. He simply meandered around for a little bit, taking random lefts and rights until he had gotten himself utterly lost in a manner of minutes. This part of the base was quiet, almost serene in its emptiness. It felt...lonely. Most of the hall lights were off, and as he walked, he noticed that the doors seemed old and like they hadn’t been used in years. He stopped walking as a golden flash caught his attention, practically grabbing him by his own curiosity to investigate. Percy turned to one of the doors to his right, tilting his head to try and make out what the flash was that had caught his attention. From what he could make out, it seemed to be a golden name plate, but it was covered in dust and had a few letters missing. It was old. Percy studies the golden band for the better part of five minutes, yet he could only make out part of what was inscribed in it-J— Mo—i-on. His curiosity at its peak, Percy slid his hand over the knob and slipped inside. 

 

As soon as he stepped foot inside, a wave of dust rose into the air, forcing Percy into a severe fit of coughs and sneezes. Eventually, the dust cleared and Percy could see clearly- all it was was just a neat and orderly room, nothing out if the ordinary. There were a few belongings here and there, but it mostly just looked like a boring, everyday room. The bed was made, a blue jacket was thrown over a chair, and a neat line of shoes guarded the door. It seemed as if the room itself had just been waiting for its occupant to return, but they never came back. Percy didn’t know if he should feel sad, but he felt  _ something.  _ As he walked deeper into the room, he moved towards the desk, and studied the messy papers and the half-written notes scattered around, a pen still uncapped and a now-emptied cup disregarded to the side. If you ignored the thick sheet of dust, this room looked like someone had just left to go use the restroom. 

 

Something else caught Percy’s attention- a framed photograph. Interested, Percy picked up the picture and brushed off the grime, watching as the contents of the image became clearer and clearer with each swipe. Not long after, the smiling visage of a strapping, young blonde man looked up at him, accompanied by what looked like another handsome young man, this one holding up a drink and laughing. Perct could practically  _ hear _ the loud cackling of the second man. They both seemed so happy. The blonde one appeared to be wearing a jacket similar to the one thrown on the chair before Percy, which lead him to believe that the man in the pic was this J Moion. Why hadn’t this man returned to the Gibraltar base to collect his things? What had happened?

 

“I see you found the old housing wing.”

 

Percy spun around so quickly, a look of panic on his face at having been caught. 

 

Standing behind Percy was a slender, young woman, with spiky brown hair and an elfish appearance about her. She looked like a runner, except for the large contraption strapped to her chest. He could have sworn he’d seen her somewhere before, but he couldn’t quite place where. 

 

“Sorry, I just...uh stumbled across this place. I can leave if I’m not allowed to be here…”

 

The woman waved her hand and laughed. “You’re fine, love. Nothing here to reprimand you except the ghosts of the past. I can show you my old room if you’d like.”

 

Percy gave her a confused expression, his head tilted and his eyebrows knit. “Your old room? Isn’t this, like, years old? I don’t mean to be rude, but aren’t you, like, only twenty-something?”

 

“Twenty Seven. Soon to be twenty eight, though. I was a pilot back during the OmniCrisis, before my plane malfunctioned and I had my ‘accident.’ Then, with the help of Dr. Ziegler and Winston, I joined Overwatch and stayed here. I was twenty when I joined. My name’s Lena, by the way.”

 

Percy blushed. “I’m Percy. And...Wow… my childhood seems a lot less great compared to yours. I was nine when you were born. You were in Overwatch when I had just started a mechanic shop.”

 

“I think you’re selling yourself short a bit.” Lena replied with a smile. “I mean, you had a side job of inventing. You had already won the local science fair ten times by the time I went into Piloting. I even heard you competed on a national level when you were in secondary school. And -if I remember correctly- you placed  _ third _ ?”

 

Percy laughed cheerfully, but he was clearly flustered. “I see you did your research. And yeah, it was third. I lost to the kid who had managed to use the structure of water to impose it on a block of wood and have the wood’s structure mimic the water. A brilliant discovery, but there wasn’t really a need for that kind of tech yet. Same for mine, I guess, but that science project helped me create Project Zeus.”

 

“See!” Lena exclaimed with a beaming smile. “You have your own great accomplishments. And in the end, we both ended up in the same place, which means Winston saw something great in you like he did with me. And between you and me, I fully trust Winston’s judgement. Now come on, I’ll show you my old room.”

 

With that, Lena took Percy by his good arm and pulled him out of the room, and he had barely enough time to close the door behind them before he was whisked off down to the other side of the hall. They arrived at the other end, and they stopped before the last door on the right- the door was still dusty and the gold didn’t shine as bright as it could have, but it seemed in better repair than J Moion’s. It seemed to have a slightly smaller layer of dust, but needless to say, it was still dusty. Percy’s eyes traveled up to the nameplate that proudly read “Lena Oxton.”

 

“When did you leave?” Percy asked softly, not sure if that was an okay thing to ask.

 

“I left a little after Overwatch was disbanded. There was still many things to be done to my chronal accelerator.” She tapped the glowing ring on her chest with a sad smile. “And then I had to return a few years later after our fight with Doomfist…” She paused, an odd expression crossing her face. Pain? Fear? “Needless to say, it was a rough couple of months. But Winston always made sure to keep my room clean in case I wanted to return to spend time with him. Of course then he enacted the recall, so we haven’t exactly been to this part of the base in a while.”

 

Lena pushed open the door, revealing another neat and orderly room that was still covered in a layer of dust, but this one way thinner. It looked like it had just been unused for a few months, which was was Percy guessed had happened. The desk was covered in coffee rings and more paper, a few pictures here and there, and a computer. It was almost exactly like the other room. Very cookie-cutter-esque. It clearly wasn’t meant to be unique, just to fit another occupant. Percy peered around for a little bit, before a page on the desk caught his attention. Tilting his head, he picked up the paper and scanned over it, ignoring the dust falling off.

 

“Were you having some troubled sleep?”

 

Len raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Troubled…? That? Oh, yeah. I had this really bizarre nightmare where there had been a malfunction in the chronal accelerator or something, and it died for a few hours. I saw the timeline split and I was kinda stuck in the past and I saw that anachronism take place. It was this long series of events that’ll probably bore you to death, but when I woke up that night, I decided to write it all down so I wouldn’t forget it, because I figured it would make a really good book plot at some point. Maybe when all this is over?” She laughed and moved further into the room to pull something out of the closet. 

 

“It...does sound like an interesting plot for a book,” Percy replied as he sat the paper back down. “Now, what do you have there?”

 

Lena still had her back to Percy. “Now, I know you might not have been in the Old Overwatch so you might not yet know everyone, but I have something that might catch you up to speed.” She paused and spun around, before she held up what looked to be… “A photo album!”

  
  
  


“...And that one was the group picture I took on my first mission. As you can see there is me, Miss Angela, Torbjorn -I don’t think you’ve met him yet- and then that’s Reinhardt. You’ll meet him at dinner tonight. He’s quite the character, but I have a feeling you’ll warm up to him.” Lena nudged Percy’s side lightly. Her watch then beeped and she glanced at it and her eyes went wide. “Speaking of Dinner!” She hurried up and put the photo album back into her closet, before returning back to Percy’s side. “We’ll be a little bit late, but you’ll probably want to change your shirt.”

 

Percy looked down and realised he was still wearing the shirt he had been knifed and beaten in. That probably wouldn’t have made a very good first appearance. “R-Right. I kinda forgot what I was wearing, but I think you’re right. A change of shirt might do me some good.”

 

Lena grabbed Percy by the hand and she led them back to the current living quarters, managing the twists and turns of the hallway that Percy had gotten lost in before. It took them a lot less time to return back to the in-use side of the base, and it felt like they had stepped back into the current world- everything was clean and free of dust and memories of the past. How long had they spent in that older wing?

 

After a few minutes of running through the halls, the two of them arrived at Percy’s room. 

 

“I’ll wait out here,” Lena stated, her back against the wall. “Then I’ll show you to the dining hall.”

 

Percy nodded his head and hurried inside, taking a small amount of time to appreciate how much effort Emilio had put into this room to make sure it was organised and tidy. However, he didn’t have long to spend on that fact, so he rushed to his dresser and pulled out the first tee he could find. Percy managed to shimmy it on without hurting himself, and then he threw his old shirt into the trash. His stomach let loose a wild growl, and he realised he had forgotten how hungry he was. With that, he hurried back out to join up with Lean and they made their way towards the dining hall. There were swarms of people coming to join them for dinner, obviously as hungry as Percy was.

 

“Ooh, looks like you’re in for a treat!” Lena whispered with a smug grin. “It looks like Mei, Jesse, and Lucio were in charge of dinner tonight.”

 

Percy blinked a few times. “Wait...Lucio as in the  _ singer _ Lucio?  _ He’s _ apart of Overwatch?”

 

Lena chortled. “Indeed he is. Now follow me, and I’ll snag you a seat next to him. But we have to hurry.”

 

“You don’t have to tell  _ me _ twice.” 

 

Percy followed Lena through the swarms of people towards a table near the centre, where there was a small gathering of people already sitting down.

 

“Hey, Jesse, are these seats open?”

 

A scruffy looking man looked up at Lena then at the seats she was pointing to. “Those? Oh, yeah, go ahead and take ‘em.” His gaze then slid to Percy, and he gave him a once-over, a judgemental look in his eyes. “This that new recruit?”

 

“Mmhmm! This is Percy. Percy, Jesse Mccree. Jesse, Percy Spencer.” 

 

Percy held out a shaky hand towards Jesse, a bit off-put by the dark look in Jesse’s eyes. “Yeah, um. I’m Percy, the new kid -uh- I mean new refruit -ah- new recruit.”

 

Jesse stared at Percy with an eyebrow raised, before he finally lost his composure and started laughing. “I’m just messin’ with ya. Nice to meet you, Percy. It’s nice to have some fresh blood around. Take a seat, and I’ll introduce you.” 

 

Percy did as he was told and took the seat right before him, looking around the table as Jesse began to introduce everyone around the table. He cleared his throat and pointed to the man on his left. “This is Hanzo Shimada. He’s a bit of a grump, but he has a heart of gold. And next to him is Hana Song, if you know her from her pro gaming years. And then, next to her is Lucio Correia dos Santos, which I’m sure you already know. And then of course, you have Lena, but you’ve already met.”

 

Percy ran over the names a few times in his head, and he nodded. “Right. I think I got it.”

 

Lena beamed at Percy. “Great! Now, let’s eat.”

  
  


Percy was thankful that Soldier 76 had given him time to recover, mostly because he spent all three days sleeping. He was glad he recovered quickly, though. Most of the bruises had faded to a nasty yellow colour, and were only slightly sore to the touch. Some of the smaller cuts had also cleared up, as well, leaving only thin, red lines here and there. The only cuts he had left to worry about were the ones made by the knife, but Dr. Ziegler made sure to keep a close and watchful eye on them. After those three days, Angela had him clear to start  _ careful _ training. 

 

Early on the fourth morning, Percy forced himself to wake up, and slipped into his personal workout attire, as he wasn’t entirely certain about what he would be doing that morning. Just as he was slipping on his shoes, there was a soft knock at the door and a gentle, “Hello?”

 

“You can come in. I’m decent.”

 

Paige peaked her head inside and looked around the room until she found where Percy was sitting. “Good morning! Are you ready for your first day of training?”

 

“Ready is...debatable, but Dr. Ziegler said that I’ll most likely be fine at the rate that I’m healing. Are you going to be my guide again today?” Paige nodded her head, and Percy took that as a cue for him to stand up. “Alright then, let’s get going. I don’t want to be late to my first day of training.”

 

The two of them walked down the hall towards where the Med bay was (an area where Percy had grown quite acquainted to over the past few days), before veering off to the right towards another part of the medical facility he hadn’t quite yet been to.

 

“Sooooo…” Percy started slowly. “What can I expect today?”

 

“Today is probably just going to be the physical check-up, where they test your reaction rate, how well you do under stress, and all that. Then they’ll give you a workout schedule.”

 

“Doesn’t seem very hard.”

 

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be. You’ll probably finish at noon, if you do well enough. I have the day off, today, so maybe when you’ve finished, you can come join me and some of the others in the game room. It’s in the same hall as the dining room, but one of the doors on the right. You’ll find it easily, it usually has a few people chilling in it at all times.”

 

Percy nodded his head, then stopped once he noticed they were already at their destination; he could see Dr Ziegler and Dr Winston preparing the room, which looked more like a padded gym than anything else. 

 

“Guess I’ll see you afterwards,” Percy said slowly. “Wish me luck.”

 

He turned and pushed through the door, making his way towards where his examiners were waiting, and Percy could have sworn he heard a faint, “Good luck!” come from Paige, but he was already too far in so he couldn’t turn back and ask her. Taking a deep breath, Percy stepped onto the matted floor, excitement and anxiety bubbling in the pit of his stomach. There would definitely be no going back now.

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHh I literally wrote this chapter in a day because I was really excited. Anyways, this is a two part chapter, and I hope to have the second part out tomorrow or the day after
> 
> ALSO Just to clear some things up, this is based off of another fic called Misconduct that's really good and you should definitely check it out! However, this story is more of an AU with minor differences to the plot.


End file.
